A Fund for the world's craziest listing ideas

NEW DELHI: Airbnb is looking for the craziest spaces in the world and will pay the bill to build them. Whether it's the next boot, the house of UFOs or the giant potato, the first OMG of its size! Fund seeks ideas from existing and aspiring designers, architects, do-it-yourselfers and makers from around the world. The $10 million fund will help fund 100 of the craziest ideas, giving 100 people the chance to make it a true Airbnb OMG! Category listings, these are Airbnb's collection of the most unique homes.

Starting today, anyone with a crazy idea can apply at airbnb.com/omgfund. One hundred people with the 100 craziest ideas will each receive $100,000 to make their creations possible and ultimately bookable. Ideas will be evaluated by a jury of experts based on their originality, their feasibility, the experience that the space offers to the guests and their sustainability.

OMG! Fund is a project of the passion of Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky - inspired by his background as a designer and entrepreneur - to help financially create the most unique spaces around the world. Stunning design is an integral part of Airbnb and this is where the Airbnb story began when two of our founders hosted their apartment to make ends meet at a design conference.

The fund is partly shaped by the growing trend towards flexible living that has emerged over the past two years. As part of this change, Airbnb guests want more unexpected spaces that are becoming the destinations themselves, and Airbnb's categories, launched last month, offer a new way to search for these spaces. In 2021, more than 30,000 unique listings worldwide were added to Airbnb and OMG! The category, which has one of the highest engagement rates among guests browsing Airbnb, shows the craziest among them, making it easy for guests to discover these listings in places they wouldn't otherwise search.

Airbnb hosting provides significant economic benefits to hosts and their communities. In 2021, revenue from unique guests in India increased by approximately 45 per cent compared to 2019. Additionally, nights booked at unique hotels increased by more than 49 per cent globally between 2019 and 2021.

"My journey as an Airbnb Host began with a scrappy investment in an overlooked area, where I built a tiny home from scratch for about $32,000," Airbnb Superhost and OMG! Fund judging panelist Kristie Wolfe said. "I went from making $13/hr to seeing $208,000 in earnings in less than three years, and leveraged that income to bootstrap my way through additional listings that allow me to express my creativity and connect with hundreds of people in the process."

Applications will be reviewed by a judging panel of boundary-pushing design authorities, architectural experts and Airbnb Hosts:

* Iris Apfel, incomparable and irreverent centenarian style icon

* Koichi Takada of Koichi Takada Architects, founder of Sydney-based global firm known for emotive design inspired by the natural world

* Kristie Wolfe, Airbnb Superhost and prolific creator of OMG! Listings including the Potato Hotel, Crystal Peak Lookout, Big Island Treehouse and the forthcoming Shipwreck House

* Bruce Vaughn, Disney alum and Airbnb's VP of Experiential Creative Product

OMG! The fund will open today for a 30-day period, through July 22 at 11:59 pm ET. The fund's 100 beneficiaries will be selected by the jury in the coming months, with the aim of completing their newly built spaces next year.